NOTE: Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s update is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. Monday, and will stream in the video player above once it begins.
Illinois has filed a lawsuit aiming to block the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Chicago.
“The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office wrote.
The lawsuit asks a federal judge to declare the Trump administration’s federalization and deployment “unconstitutional and/or unlawful” saying it violated the Administrative Procedures Act, a law governing how federal agencies develop and issue regulations, and “is contrary to the Constitution of the United States.”
“The Trump administration’s illegal actions already have subjected and are subjecting Illinois to serious and irreparable harm,” Raoul’s office wrote. “The deployment of federalized National Guard, including from another state, infringes on Illinois’s sovereignty and right to self-governance. It will cause only more unrest, including harming social fabric and community relations and increasing the mistrust of police. It also creates economic harm, depressing business activities and tourism that not only hurt Illinoisians but also hurt Illinois’s tax revenue.”
NBC News reached out to the White House, Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security for comment.
It marks the latest legal effort filed surrounding enforcement efforts in Chicago.
Politics
At the same time Monday, Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, signed an executive order to create what he called “ICE-free zones,” aimed at limiting where federal agents can gather in the city for immigration enforcement activities.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is expected to hold a press conference at 2 p.m. Monday.
Pritzker announced over the weekend that President Donald Trump was “ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations within the United States,” noting that his office was not contacted about the deployment.
Pritzker said Trump’s Department of Defense gave him what he called “an ultimatum” to either call up National Guard members or to have those members nationalized. The Department of Homeland Security previously requested up to 100 troops to be deployed to Illinois to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) assets and agents, the governor’s office said.
“We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion,” Pritzker said in a statement. “It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops.”
Trump says Pritzker opposes Guard deployment because he’s ‘afraid for his life’
In a memo obtained through a court filing and signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, up to 400 members of the Texas National Guard will be deployed in Chicago and Portland “for up to 60 days with the potential for an extension.”
“On October 4, 2025, the President determined that violent incidents, as well as the credible threat of continued violence, are impeding the execution of the laws of the United States in Illinois, Oregon, and other locations throughout the United States,” the memo read in part.
Along with the deployment of Texas troops, Trump is calling at least 300 Illinois National Guard members into service to protect federal buildings in the state, according to a copy of a Pentagon memo first reported by the Chicago Tribune and shared with NBC News by an Illinois official.
Trump has said he believes he has the authority to send the National Guard to Chicago despite a California court ruling he overstepped his authority in sending members to Los Angeles during protests and unrest there earlier this year.
Oregon is also fighting to prevent federalized National Guard troops from coming to its largest city to address ongoing protests at an immigration processing facility there.
A federal judge late Sunday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying any National Guard units to Oregon following a legal whirlwind. During a hastily called evening telephone hearing, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut granted a temporary restraining order sought by both California and Oregon.